International Rally Lisbon, Part 1

(or 30 degrees isn’t much!)

The international Rally in Portugal started for me around three weeks before the off. Due to personal circumstances that was the earliest that I managed to get working on the commando. I changed the leaking oil tank with one I bought of ebay, an oil pump similarly purchased was also changed. The gear change was leaking oil so off with the outer case and in with a new gear shaft & bush. Then I remembered the head had a leak last year, so off with the head and on with a new gasket. Two weeks to go as I tightened the last head bolt, it stripped, bugger, off with the head and thoughts of taking the modern Triumph entered my head. Simon Linford at Meigle to the rescue with a thread insert and also thanks to Phil for picking the head up for me.

Head on again, set the tappets, check the timing ( by ear, I mention this as it will come up again ) out for a test run and ...... Oil pissing from the head, much despondency and cursing before I realised (with the help of a second opinion ) that it was coming from the rocker oil feed union. New copper washers and it was running like a good un.

The day dawned, We set off on Saturday the 10th of June, for a change en route to Europe it was very warm & sunny. We stopped at Killington lake, the bike just didn't feel right, petrol consumption was crap (under 30 ) so off with the single mikuni, cleaned the air filter. 30 miles down the road at Preston we turned off the motorway, the Norton really running like crap. Changed the ignition pickup, lifted the carb needle, it seemed marginally better but still not good. Just passing Knutsford, the SV Suzuki died, much swearing and pulling at wires, a call to Alan Mackie (top Suzuki mechanic & good bloke ) helped and we were on our way. Stopped at the M6 toll services & had some food, decided to look for a hotel, went the wrong way down the toll road and ended up going down and back up it both ways to find our hotel. Talk about stress! We got in to the hotel at nine, 300 miles in 10 hours! We hit the bar and worked off the stress in the usual alcohol frenzy.

Sunday, still hot, heading to stay with Jem Nicholls at Portsmouth. We turned off the A34 on to the A31 towards Petersfield, which is effectively the back road to Portsmouth avoiding the motorways, arrived at Jem's around two, we drank tea and chilled out in the unseasonable heat wave until the bike cooled down.

Serviced the Norton, set the tappets again and Jem came up with a strobe, checked the timing, it was 30 degrees out!!! My setting by ear obviously now a very poor technique. It’s a long story how this came about but if you're bored sometime I'll tell you.

New fuses in the SV as well, both bikes going fine, the commando sounding sweeter than it had for a long time. Time for more beer!

Monday, Ferry day, we set off at 12.30 to have a leisurely run into Portsmouth city centre to get some lunch and chill before the ferry. Wrong! The SV stopped, all luggage off, tools out and start looking for the electrical fault. More calls to Alan at Cupar M/c's, 4 hours in the scorching sun before we diagnosed the problem, it appeared to be the main relay causing problems. Call to the main Suzuki dealer in the area, no chance, they (a) didn't have a clue and (b) didn't have the part, decision time, Fi decided the back of the commando was better than going home with her bike courtesy of Carol Nash. We did have some problems with Carol Nash breakdown but a bit of pressure brought the right result.

We made the ferry with some time to spare after some more stress decanting our excess baggage into Trudie's cavernous people carrier but only after we picked it up from Jem's wife Anne, once again the traveling Rattray's proved a godsend!

On to the boat, we all met up, George, Sandy Bloy, well known local bike dealer and recent commando convert enjoying his first international, Phil, Trudie & son Tom, Gary & Amy, Julian & Connie.

The ferry to Bibao takes 36 hours and includes two nights of partying which was good, as always it’s good to meet up again with the International Rally regulars & newcomers, the two days on board provided ample opportunity to do this.

Off the Ferry on the Wednesday morning, stupidly followed Gary & his GPS, instead of taking us onto the very well signposted motorway, myself & Phil (and of course Trudie & Tom following in the people carrier) into Satazzuzi which is the small town outside Bilbao where the ferry lands. GPS is the work of the devil!!! Stick to planning your route by maps and ignore irritating instructions from voices telling to turn left / right or do a U turn. We eventually found the motorway despite the bloody GPS! Onto eventually the E80 to Valladolid and Salimancar, then we headed south on the N630 towards Bejar & Ceceres, the road wasn’t the best, congested and hard to pass. After a hard day we stopped the night at the small town of Bejal in the Hotel colon of all places, not sure what it means in Spanish but it was OK and not a shithole!

Thursday morning and onwards to Badajox on the EX100, good road but a bit like the A9 (but hotter) and it was difficult passing the trucks on the twisty road. Hard going with only 70 miles in a couple of hours. We stopped for lunch and met up again with Jem & Co.

We decided to head for the motorway again to try to make up some time, back onto the Peage and into Portugal, it was weird, there was no traffic except for us for mile after mile. The landscape also changed from a brown burnt landscape to pleasant greenery all around. We stopped around 60 km’s from Lisbon to fuel up. Phil put his waterproofs on to ensure it stayed dry. It was Black all around and it felt weird as we seemed to travel along a magical dry patch.

We arrived in Lisbon around 5PM, mental traffic and worryingly the suspension bridge consisted of three lanes in either direction with the outside lane having a metal grill as a surface and the inside lane with half metal half tarmac Scary!!!

The Norton by this time had developed a misfire and was running rougher and rougher, I was praying the bloody thing didn’t breakdown in the busy traffic. Luckily it limped into the site. We found it relatively easily thanks to the locals pointing in the right direction whenever we arrived at a junction looking lost. George however with Sandy following was relying on his Devil Box (Tom Tom) and got lost for three hours in Lisbon trying to find the site. Not a best start to a rally!

We booked in and at the time it seemed expensive, we also felt that the organizers were not very well organized. I’m glad to say that we were wrong on both counts!! Massively wrong.

Tents up, then off to party, the club had a beer caravan within the site with a covered seating, BBQ area. Beer was 80 cents & the club laid on free of charge a BBQ on the Thursday night, brilliant!

Friday was a maintenance day, Nortons being worked on everywhere. I checked my electrics over and remade connections where they looked dodgy, it seemed to be OK. The only other thing was that most guys were running 98 octane petrol so that was a possibility for the misfire, as always 150 experts all with different ideas.

Back to the beer caravan with more beer and BBQ taking us into Saturday. I got a call from Lolo to say he wouldn’t be joining us this year due to not having his bike ready in time. Wolf & Arno from Austria were missing also, sad that these stalwarts of International Rallies were missing.

Saturday appeared as if by magic, following Friday, there was some fuzziness of the head and it was quite hard to get organized for the run.

We set off on the run with a crowd of over 100 bikes, mainly Nortons & mainly commando’s. The local organizing club provided marshals / outriders, it has to be said they were very good and very mad! The whole thing at times looked like it might end in tears as the outriders stopped cars at junctions & roundabouts and pedestrians at crossings. Good fun though, we headed to the most westerly point of Europe, Cape Roca. We all got handed fancy personal certificates to say we had been there which was a very nice touch by the organizers. Then another mad run for lunch at Sintra, Sintra is a beautiful area and the place where we stopped for lunch allegedly had a spectacular view over the area but the weather was so cloudy we could see not a lot.

Lunch was provided by another bike club in a room with three long tables, 150 people fed & watered in under an hour, superb food, well organized and excellent wine! This was part of the entry fee so as the weekend went on it became apparent that we were getting superb value for money. More madness through the traffic, Portugal had just won through to the next round of the world cup so in one particular town we had to thread our way past celebrating supporters with flags, horns and all the paraphernalia you would expect from the Portuguese, it really added a sense of fun to the proceedings. On to Lisbon Sea front for a chill out in the warm sunshine & a final photo shoot then back to camp.

Part 2 next month

National Rally

Trudie has had a stab at literary greatness with “A pillions tale” for this one, so I’ll leave her to tell the story. It was an excellent Rally and well worth the trip, once again no waterproofs required and nice warm weather. Only downside was the very heavy traffic down the A1 past Newcastle. The Rally itself, organized by the Notts branch was very good and we had a pleasant afternoon Clay pigeon shooting on the Saturday afternoon. Kate (of Kate and Bob fame) won the long distance female & English Andy (Malloch) won the best shot (chancer!!). A pleasant run home on the Sunday finished off a great weekend. Good to see Pedro back at a Norton Rally, George and Peter traveled together making the most of it and stretching the weekend out to Monday.

West Coast Trip

Last weekend I had Dirk & Guiseppe over from the Flanders NOC for a trip around Scotland. They were amazed by the good weather (which they aren’t enjoying in Belgium) and the scenery. We had a day in Edinburgh (Guiseppe had been on an exchange visit there whilst at University) the town was bustling and in full festival mode, an evening meal with Alex and Martin from Cork who was just finishing a weeks tour ended day one. Friday, a visit to see Sandy Bloy for a quick hello & coffee, then on to the famous Grouse experience at Crieff. Lunch at the Clachan at Lochearnhead (where I booked the Christmas do) then up through Glencoe, through a very busy Fort William and hooked left stopping at Glenfinnan. A quick history lesson from me, some photos and then on to Glen Uig for the overnight stay. This was my first time staying there, I camped but they had a room, the camping was good enough, rough camping next to the sea and just across the road from the Hotel. Much beer & food then it was Saturday. Off a bit early (sorry Dave) on to Mallaig to catch the ferry to Skye (bit of a pantomime there with the Caledonian MacBrayne workers being as inviting as a night out in Beirut.

Through Skye, over the bridge and the obligatory stop at Eillen Donan Castle for the holiday snaps. Over to Lochcarron and finally over the Bealach to my favorite, Applecross. More beer & food led to Sunday. Sunday and we went our separate ways as unfortunately I had to work on Monday. They called from the ferry on Tuesday night to say they had a wonderful time and were happy to have visited the best of Scotland in relatively good weather. The only rain they had was from Dunkeld to Rosyth. Superb.

Forthcoming events

Begonia Rally Belgium

25^th 26^th 27^th August, if your not booked it may be too late to get a seat on the ferry but worth a try if you fancy a weekend of chilled out alcohol abuse.

Christmas Do

Clachan Hotel Lochearnhead 25^th of November, let me know and I’ll organize a room. £36 per person for the evening meal, room & breakfast still seems like good value to me. Be there or be square

The Small Print

The views and opinions contained within this publication are not necessarily those of the NOC or of the branch but are probably mine as I wrote it.

No one accepts any responsibility for anything, if you have a good time don't say I didn't warn you.

Gino Rondelli

August 2006